By: Michael Achterling
BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – Members of North Dakota law enforcement updated the public on new alerts that will go into effect Aug. 1 to help locate members of Native communities and other adults who are reported missing.
During the seventh annual Government-to-Government conference in Bismarck on Thursday, a member of the state Highway Patrol outlined how the feather and missing, endangered alerts will be added to the already established Amber, Silver and Blue Alert systems.
North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Jenna Clawson Huibregtse, special programs coordinator for safety and education for the department, said Feather Alerts will specifically be used for missing members of the Indigenous community.
“The phone blast, as we call it, or when we wake you up at 3 a.m. on your cellphone, we try not to, but when someone’s life is in danger, we’re going to do it,” Clawson Huibregtse said. “That piece will only be used in abduction cases.”
She added website, social media, electronic billboards and media releases will be used in Feather Alert cases not involving abduction or threats of bodily harm.
“To get that word out, that’s the most important piece is galvanizing the public to help us find somebody,” she said. Once alerts are issued to the public, the person is usually found within a couple of hours, she said.
Phil Packineau, public safety administrator for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, said MHA has an emergency response agreement with state law enforcement to assist tribal law enforcement, if the need ever arises.
“We’ve identified numerous resources that we can bring to bear when there is somebody missing and that includes Highway Patrol,” Packineau said. He added Highway Patrol has been able to deploy its airplane with infrared capability within 45 minutes of being notified of a missing person.
Gary Delorme, assistant U.S. Attorney for North Dakota, said of the 86 missing persons reports from tribal lands in North Dakota this year, 83 of those individuals have been found so far.
Delorme praised the tribal relationship with local and state law enforcement despite some tense times, like during the protests that erupted in 2016 and 2017 over the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in rural Morton County.
“Even after DAPL, and everything that kind of soured a little bit in the Standing Rock area, when we’ve had missing persons, we’ve called Morton County and they said they could gather six to seven deputies and send them down. It’s really that kind of a close relationship,” Delorme said.
Clawson Huibregtse said a Missing, Endangered Persons Alert will also be added to the state’s system Aug. 1 that will focus on abducted individuals between 18 to 65 years old.
“Right now in the alert system from 18 years old to 65, if you are abducted or your life is in serious danger of bodily harm or death, there is not an alert type that serves you right now,” she said.
Clawson Huibregtse cited examples of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, Dru Sjodin and Sherry Arnold who went missing over the last 25 years, but law enforcement did not have a direct alert message system to notify the public of their disappearances.
“So, it will now. The missing, endangered persons alert will do that,” she said.
She said the Amber Alert is used to notify the public when a child 17 years old or younger is abducted. Clawson Huibregtse added that about 90% of amber alerts in the state are issued to locate missing Native children.
“That’s not just Native American kids that are on tribal lands, that’s across the state from Bismarck, Fargo, et cetera,” she said. “I always want to relay that statistic because it is kind of a staggering statistic because that is a really high representation in the amber alerts program.”
Silver Alerts, she said, are not just for missing people aged 65 and older, but also people with functional and mental impairment or developmental disabilities.
Blue Alerts are issued to notify the public of a suspect search for a person who attempts, or succeeds, to injure, harm or kill a law enforcement officer, including federal and tribal officers.
House Bill 1535, sponsored by Rep. Jayme Davis, D-Rolette, created the new alerts and passed both legislative chambers with overwhelming support, 74-17 in the House and 45-1 in the Senate. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Kelly Armstrong on May 2.
Rep. Christina Wolff, R-Minot, pushed back against the Feather Alert bill during debate on the House floor, saying too many alerts reduces their effectiveness.
“This is a feel good bill that does not guarantee to help the situation, but will absolutely dilute the effectiveness of our current alert systems,” Wolff said on May 1.
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